


I Really Do

by nausicaa_of_phaeacia



Category: Buffy the Vampire Slayer
Genre: "Chosen", F/M, Gen, Post "Chosen", Post Season 07, Post Series, Post Sunnydale, Season 07, Short
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2013-11-30
Updated: 2013-11-30
Packaged: 2018-01-03 01:23:40
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 811
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/1064014
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/nausicaa_of_phaeacia/pseuds/nausicaa_of_phaeacia
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>She swallows, but suddenly, he smiles, "I think it's bloody brilliant," and even Faith can't hide a grin.</p>
            </blockquote>





	I Really Do

**Author's Note:**

> Written in one go (again). Hope you like it :)  
> As always, I own only what came out of my very own head.

**I Really Do**

"It's pretty radical, B," Faith says, swinging her arms, and Buffy is about to lose all confidence in her suggestion. But then, Giles stands up, just as she is about to surrender all her doubts and fears to the group, and stifles the shy words before they reach her lips. "It's a lot more than that," he says. "Buffy, what you said, it's-it-it flies in the face of everything we've ever, uh, e-every generation has ever done in the fight against evil." She swallows, but suddenly, he smiles, "I think it's bloody brilliant," and even Faith can't hide a grin. Buffy is feeling a little breathless as she eagerly asks him, "You mean that?," and it's not just an enquiry as to whether he actually is pleased with her plan or not; it is about so much more, and secretly, she hopes - while a part of her doesn't want him to know - that he understands. His smile is very warm, and she realizes she hasn't received that much love in such a simple gesture in ages. "If you want my opinion," he nods, beaming, the level beneath the obvious message, the one that struggles to reconcile their differences, that fights to reunite them as the invincible partners in crime they've been in the past, obvious in his response. "Really do," she quickly answers, trying to satisfy both questions with her suddenly-too-truthful words. The bright and uncommonly free, deeply honest smile they elicit from him reassure her, and more questions that have been asked have been answered through their short exchange. Willow brings up her legitimate worries, and everybody goes back to tactical mode, not giving the Watcher-Slayer conversation any more thought. Strategy is what it's all about, fighting, and, yes, winning, finally winning.

When they've made it out, they remaining warriors scattered around the bus, everybody tending to one wound or another, silently discussing what they all just witnessed, it's the two of them left standing at the abyss, Giles cleaning his glasses out of habit, and Buffy with crossed arms. She doesn't know that his thoughts, too, are circling around the moment of her proposition, but she finds herself wondering how they had been able to go without such reconciliation for so long, given that being back to their usual partnership and familialness feels so natural and unbreakable. Her inner eye replays the moment, and there is so much warmth in the smile she has received, so much affection that suddenly, she sees something she would never have admitted to herself, the realization written on her face and causing Giles to ask her if she's alright. "Yes, I ... I just ... I think I just understood something, Giles." As always when confronted with theories, he puts his - not necessarily cleaner - glasses back on, looking at her in expectation, but before he can fully prepare himself for a hypothetical assumption, she hugs him. Surprised, but genuinely happy about the gesture, he hugs her back; but even as he expects her to draw back and let go, as she had on every other occasion, she still holds onto him very tightly. The moment where a child would have let go of their parent, a friend of their friend, a partner of their partner, passes, and suddenly his heart is beating in his throat. Maybe she just missed it, his mind struggles to explain: maybe she's just exhausted, maybe it's just because we've survived another apocalypse, maybe it's because she's wounded, maybe it's because we haven't hugged in ages -

"Giles?"  
"Hmm?" He tries to sound casual, but how would anyone, having just survived an actual hell, standing at the edge of a crater of nothing, with a comrade-in-arms, a friend of so many years, wrapped around themselves, holding not only a family member, but a glowingly beautiful and fearless woman in their arms, sound casual? He hears her smile, and it feels as if she's hugging him even tighter (if that's actually possible). "I love you," she says, and it sounds so simple and so mercilessly honest that he gives a small, but genuinely happy chuckle that drives tears into his eyes. He's scared to have her see him, but exactly then, she turns and lifts her head, looking him straight in the eye, but she's smiling. "I really do," she nods, making all doubts he just accumulated in his chest dissolve into thin air. "Good lord," he whispers, his expression suddenly very serious and reverent. Their arms entwining them with each other in a way that seems entirely different from their previous hug, they embrace again, their lips moving closer too slowly until Buffy suddenly stands on tiptoe and kisses him with the same passion he has sometimes suspected himself of harbouring for her. For the first time, she thinks, reality is being more generous with them than their imagination.

**Author's Note:**

> Thank you for reading :)   
> Please let me know what you think!


End file.
